Meridian, Mississippi, man, Joshua Salovich, is under arrest and charged with murdering a 3-year-old girl in his custody because she didn’t “get her numbers right.”
Salovich appeared before a judge who denied his bond Monday.
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According to court records, Salovich confessed that he was teaching Bailey Salovich her numbers and would strike the child each time she gave an incorrect answer.
“She apparently did not want to participate and get the correct numbers,” investigators said. “He said he would pop her with his hands on her butt and legs when she got a wrong answer… (he said he) backhanded her several times in the stomach because she kept getting it wrong.”
When asked by detectives how hard he had struck the child on a scale of 1-to-10, Salovich answered “10” without hesitation. He used his hands, a bamboo rod and a heavy duty electrical cord during the brutal beating.
The victim is not Salovich’s biological child, however, Salovich is listed on the child’s birth certificate.
The little girl had a swollen, red abdomen, bruises and welts on her legs, lacerations on her buttocks, U-shaped marks on her legs and buttocks as well as a head wound, investigators said.
The toddler suffered brain bleeding, a possibly detached retina and her lungs were filled with blood.